Aye, it's mental. I love it. The music, the videos, everything.

Have you heard the version with all the segues intact and I Wanna Melt With U omitted?

TheDigitalGardener said:

KingSausage said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

Aye, it's mental. I love it. The music, the videos, everything.

Have you heard the version with all the segues intact and I Wanna Melt With U omitted?

No! I have to hear that!

Yes you do.

[Edited 9/26/15 7:59am]

It's one of Prince's best albums of the 90s.The music is strong and inspired."Sexy MF","Love 2 The 9s","The Continental","Damn U","7" and "And God Created Woman" are superb tracks.

KnowS no bounds -- thanks.

KingSausage said:

I've always liked the Symbol album, but lately it's grown to be one of my absolute favorite Prince albums. I love its wackiness, its variety, its sheer creativity. Every song is great. The segues are bizarre but dammit that's just part of the fun. Prince's vocals are top notch throughout. The production is warm, organic, and aggressive. The slow songs are great, the fast songs are great, the funk is great. Most importantly, the Symbol album might be the weirdest Prince era. Have you seen the 3 Chains of Gold video? Have you read the 3 Chains of Gold comic? His weirdness is absolutely stunning. [Edited 9/26/15 7:52am]

I fucking love this album, and your post illustrates all the reasons why.

Unlike on a lot of Prince albums where I play select songs and the others only get played if I'm in the mood to listen to the entire album, The Symbol album is one of those where every song is just great and will always get played. There's been many times where I just want to play 1 track and end up listening to the whole album instead, it's addictingly good. Only other albums where I do this would be 1999 & Purple Rain. It's not the best album, but it's extremely catchy and there's not a single weak track imo.

I also agree about his vocals being top notch and the production. On this album, his voice sounds rich and warm and you can tell he really paid attention to vocals. On some albums his vocals can tend to sound like he didn't put as much effort into them, but on this album he sounds fucking flawless on all the tracks, "Damn U" being the best. And the production is great too, not too mechanical, not too overproduced, not too minimalistic.

Overall the era is great too. Egyptian princesses, chain link police hats, the NPG, the 3cg video, I love the whole thing. Good post KS.

Great epic album. This along with TGE were his highpoints of the 1990s to me, and also thought it was his strongest album since Lovesexy at that time. Great variety and lots of uptempo material. Agree though that it sags at 3 Chains O Gold and some of the Tony M stuff around it. But there is so much strong material that it fully overcomes those lapses.

NorthC said:

Not often do I read a post where I disagree with almost every word! Sexy MF is fun and a good groove, the same goes for The Continental and Love 2 the 9s, but that's about it. Damn U is a nice ballad, but was much better live. Thankfully, he saved the best for last. The Sacrifice of Victor is another great funk track where he has a good story to tell. So I only agree that the funk is great, the rest I can happily live without. But, just like The Gold Experience and The Rainbow Children, it has a bit of a cult status here on the org and that's cool.

That might be the only Symbol track that I've never really cared for.

HardcoreJollies said:

Great epic album. This along with TGE were his highpoints of the 1990s to me, and also thought it was his strongest album since Lovesexy at that time. Great variety and lots of uptempo material. Agree though that it sags at 3 Chains O Gold and some of the Tony M stuff around it. But there is so much strong material that it fully overcomes those lapses.

agreed. And Tony M. wasn't overwhelming on this album, at least to me. One of my guilty pleasures is "Dance girl, lemme see that booty boom!"

I remember them playing tracks from this album over the PA before the gigs on the D&P tour. It was a great time to be a fan.

[Edited 9/26/15 9:36am]

yes sir...easily one of his 5 best albums ever...

some timeless songs on that album..

My Name Is Prince

Love 2 The 9s

Sweet Baby

And God Created Woman

The Flow

The Continental

Morning Papers

Arrogance

Damn You

even a reggae/pop song "Blue Light"

such a diverse album without sounding cluttered..."Love 2 The 9s" is magic, despite Tony M's attempt to ruin the song with that Booty Boom nonsense, and "what sign you are?"and,"how many books you read?" stupidity

[Edited 9/26/15 11:26am]

Aerogram said:

Luv it too, except for 7.

Never cared for that track.

EroticDreamer said:

Luv it too, except for 7.

Never cared for that track.

wow really?? I love 7 as well as the other strong singles from the album..

And, the 7 musicvideo is amazing, one of his best ever imo....

The only song that I don't like at all is Blue Light... aww...

Prince doing pop-reggae what was he thinking..

KingSausage said:

I actually love Tony M on this album. I said it. There's no going back.

on "The Flow" he's ok... i just feel like Love 2 the 9's was moving along beautifully and suddenly his verses intrude on the whole vibe of the song...not sure why P felt like that song needed any contributions from hiphop...my beef with Tony M stems mainly from that song...i can tolerate him on other songs

thedance said:

EroticDreamer said:

Luv it too, except for 7.

Never cared for that track.

wow really?? I love 7 as well as the other strong singles from the album..

And, the 7 musicvideo is amazing, one of his best ever imo....

The only song that I don't like at all is Blue Light... aww...

Prince doing pop-reggae what was he thinking..

The Arsenio Hall performance of Blue Light is one of my favorites!

I'm gonna watch it again to see if it still holds the same magic.

KingSausage said:

Most of the songs on this record are either great or more than decent, but it does feel overblown especially 3 Chains of Gold.

As an album it's like a magnificent Austrian pastry with a criminal amount of cream and melted caramel that you feel guilty about the next day when you realize you can hardly put on your tight jeans.

Aerogram said:

Aerogram said:

i just heard Goldnigga for the first time last week

not impressed at all

too much Tony M..

im a lifelong hiphop fan...(WuTang, Nas, Hov, Camron, Slum Village, Pharoah Monch, etc.)

and Tony M's delivery is too basic and old school to get respect from more hardcore hiphop fans, who listen for advanced wordplay, metaphors and similies, punchlines, and intricate flows, cadences and multisyllabic rhyme pattern...he's just too basic and his rhymes have aged terribly...they sounded outdated when they were new...always sounded like he was trying to recreate ChuckD/Dr. Dre/ Ice T all at once

RJOrion said:

CharismaDove said:

The Sacrifice Of Victor might be the only Symbol track that I've never really cared for.

I agree.I think the album should have ended with "Three Chains O' Gold".